Fruit and vegetable spray instead of plastic
New York: In Western countries, fruits and vegetables are sold wrapped in plastic and now this trend has become common in Pakistan which produces heaps of plastic. But to avoid plastic contamination, experts have developed a plant-like fiber made from plant fibers that can be sprayed to not only sterilize fruits and vegetables but also increase their freshness by up to 50%.
This very thin and eco-friendly coating can be used in food packaging including fruits and vegetables. In this way, in addition to their disruption in transportation, it can also prevent the goods from getting stale quickly. Large-scale production could save tens of millions of kilograms of plastic annually worldwide, which is already making life miserable in every corner of the globe.
Dr. Philip Demokritov, an expert in nanoscience and new materials at Rutgers University, and his colleagues have come up with this invention for two purposes. The first is to make an environmentally friendly alternative to plastic and the second is to keep food fresh. Now this packaging based on plant starch provides a satisfactory solution to both problems.
Biologically suitable and environmentally friendly coatings can now be applied to fruits and vegetables in the form of a spray. Wherever it rains, a very thin layer of food spreads over it. It is made of polysaccharide, biopolymer fibers.
But whether it is a pear or an apple, the spray sticks in the same shape and sticks like a mask. Fruits and vegetables are not damaged by friction and pressure and external germs or moisture do not affect the food in any way. Even germs like E. coli do not attack.
When applied experimentally on avocado, it was 50 percent more resistant to rot than normal packaging. This technology is called retrojet spinning. Now the fruit from which it is to be removed, if it is washed thoroughly, it becomes detached from the food.
It is also expected to reduce the use of environmentally friendly plastics.
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